Kane slips into his brown shoes. This was the first time in months he had worn these shoes. He stands up and taps the floor with his toe cap. He turns back to his parents while reaching for his leather briefcase, who are currently standing there and watching him prepare.
His uniform — specifically the male uniform — consists of black trousers, a white button-up for the inner-most layer, a beige sweater vest acting as the middle layer, a dark-brown necktie with a simplistic design, and finally topped with a simplistic yet sleek dark-brown blazer.
For his style of uniform however, he chooses to keep the uppermost button unbuttoned, his necktie somewhat loose, and his blazer completely unbuttoned — a lousy style for a lousy individual.
While we're still here, I'll also describe the female uniform — it's a hobby of mine being the narrator and all that, but~ I will make this quick. With the female uniform, we have the same dark-brown blazer and white button-up, followed by a ribbon that changes color depending on what grade level you are, and finally a plain jumper dress fashioned with buttons as decoration, accompanied by a high-waist pleated skirt with a checker pattern — these two share the same medium-tone brown color.
Kane grabs the door handle, before looking back at both his parents. While tightening the grip he has on his bag, he gives them a half-hearted smile. A thought provokes his mind, "With what I'm doing, this will make them worry less... for me."
"Even though I don't honestly feel happy for myself... as long as Mom and Dad are happy, that's enough for me."
"I'll be leaving now."
His mother softly waves at her son as soon as he said that. His father stands there giving him a thumbs-up — possibly trying to meet the quota of least words said in a day. Returning his focus to his mother, she begun to spoke in a calming manner, "Hai[1]~ take care now!"
Kane slides open the door and steps outside into his new life as a first-year high school student. He closes the door of his humble abode and slowly walks over to the metal gate, which he opens and closes behind him.
Walking over to his bike, which is currently latched to a metal fence infront of their house. He looks forward, before looking back at his bike as a thought enters his mind, "I suppose... I'll use my bike as always. The school I've been attending is quite a distance away from my home anyways."
He unlatches his bike using his trustworthy key, before pocketing it and getting on his bike. Without any hesitation or second-thoughts, he begins peddling toward his school.
As per the destination, he passes along a few landmarks, such as the park with a playground where he sees children playing in the park with their parents, a convenience store with the clerk being a... dog? And finally, a maid café that had just recently opened last month.
After 13 long minutes of biking, and two additional minutes he had to wait at the various pedestrian stoplights he had to pass, he finally arrives at the parking station for bikes. He locks his bike on one of the empty spots and sets off.
He stands infront of the gate to his school, the name of the schools proudly displayed on a sign to the side of the gate, which reads: 'Goshogawara Academy[2]', a prestigious high school that caters to the needs of their students. The campus comes with a swimming pool, a gym, an entire field, and so much more!
As he takes his first step into the school grounds, an all too familiar sound catches his attention.
The distant sounds of a car approaching reaches his ears. He turns around and sees a black car with tinted windows, wherein which the other students who had just arrived also seem to have gotten their attention caught on who this mysterious student might be.
Kane however, unsurprised and uninterested, rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. "This again? He always does this every time it's the first day of school... ever since the first year of junior high school..."
The car stops, and the man in the driver's seat exits the vehicle. He makes his way toward the passenger door in the back with a professional aura radiating from him.
Students start whispering amongst each other as the passenger door opens. A foot makes its grand reveal as it takes a step out, followed by an absolutely stunning crimson-haired boy peeking his head out from over the door.
His dark-red eyes scan the area, before locking eyes with Kane. He raises his hand high in the air, before waving aggressively at him while shouting in his somewhat high-pitch yet elegant voice, "Koyasu-kun!"
Kane completely ignores his call with a deadpan face and turns to the gate before walking through. The red-haired hottie gives off a half-smile and closes both of his eyes as a cartoony vein pops out of his head, before reacting with a simple, "Eh?"
"Hey! Wait up a bit, why don't you!?"
The crimson-haired boy shouted with the ounce of elegance in his voice now gone. He then grabs his leather briefcase from the passenger seat he was sitting next to — before he leaves though, he bows to his butler and starts chasing after Kane. What a nice kid.
In the distance, it is as if a cheetah was running after him due to the speed he is approaching Kane at… who is walking at a steady pace while staring at his phone nonchalantly. The boy running after Kane shouts, "HEY! KANE-SAN!! DON'T YOU DARE IGNORE ME!!!"
CRASH!
Before Kane could turn around, he is suddenly pounced by the red-haired maniac, who brings them both to the ground.
"Good morning! Kane-san!"
The crimson-haired maniac remarks with a wide smile and closed eyes, while also laying on Kane's back and placing his entire weight on it.
Kane struggles to look over his shoulder and glares at him while forcing a half-smile on his face. He begins speaking in an extremely strained voice, "G-good morning, Ryūzaki-san..."
Satoshi Ryūzaki, a friend of Kane ever since the first year of junior high school, and only child of the current era Ryūzaki clan. Even though they are worlds apart in terms of wealth and status, they are extremely close in terms of hobbies and interests, with that interest being anime, manga, and all sorts of otaku-related hobbies! And the scary thing about Satoshi is the fact that he is an SSS+ demon rank otaku.
"C-could you kindly get off of m-me...?"
Pleading for a respite, Kane had begun to feel the weight on his back pushing him harder and harder onto the marvelously laid pathway leading to the school.
Satoshi lets out a sly chuckle. "Ah, sorry about that," he says as he pushes himself off of his good friend; Kane stands up shortly after, while also dusting himself off and stretching his back.
While smiling at his friend while repeatedly patting the back of his bland looking friend, Satoshi cheekily speaks with a confident voice, "So, it's been awhile, Koyasu-kun!"
Kane lets out a defeated sigh. "You haven't changed one bit, you know that right? How about the wine business you said you would inherit, did you inherit it yet?" He remarks with a tired expression.
Satoshi lets out a hearty laugh, as if he had just heard one of the best jokes of the century or one of the last jokes he would hear. "I could say the same thing to you! And about that wine business... Ryūzaki Vineyard Co. is still handled by my father, don't tell me you thought he died?"
In an attempt to blatantly ignore his question, Kane begins looking away from him while whistling. Exasperated by his lame attempt of looking busy, Satoshi begins looking around as well to take his mind off it.
He notices the various eyes looking at him, mostly stemming from the female students in pairs, trios, and even solos. He smiles warmly at one of the girls and they swoon, getting caught by her companions before she hits the pavement.
Kane also notices this fact, and points it out — literally and figuratively — while also completing his original objective of completely ignoring his original statement, "You know, I still can't grasp the fact why you chose to be friends with us..."
"You're the most well-off and good-looking student here... based on my observations. You shouldn't really be hanging around us nerds... or something like that... You probably understand what I'm getting at, Ryūzaki-san."
"Hey, that kind of self-deprecating statement also hurts my worth as well."
Another completely unknown, yet medium-pitch voice calls out from behind them.
Kane raises an eyebrow, before having a thought enter his mind, "Now who could that be? Another addition to our merry band of otakus, or a returning side character that will be completely forgotten?"
He looks over the shoulder of Satoshi; his friend proceeds to look over his shoulder and they watch as a blonde-haired student wearing glasses approaches them.
Exclaiming with a huge smile on his face, Satoshi happily approaches his friend while waving his hand energetically, "Kazuo-chan! Good morning!"
He clears his throat as he gestures toward his blonde-haired friend, commenting on his new appearance, "Now this! This is someone who changed over the vacation!"
Kazuo Suou, the third and "final" friend of Kane, the resident otaku — and I mean resident — he knows the ins-and-outs of almost every anime, manga, and visual novel that exists in Japan to this very moment! He is one of the sole reasons as to why their friend group exists in the first place. Furthermore, he is a more calm and collected otaku compared to the demon that is Satoshi.
Stars begin to shine in Satoshi's eyes as if he had found the masterpiece of his life. He inspects Kazuo from different perspectives. "Look, he even grew out his hair and put it all up in a manbun!"
"He also colored it blonde!"
Satoshi then starts rubbing his chin as he begins to reminisce, "Ahh~ I remember when you used to have short and black hair..."
"The difference is almost amazing!!"
He shouts as he closes his eyes and sparkles begin emanating from the man who is currently fanboying over his good friend. He reopens one eye and glares at his friend again.
"However... those glasses still haven't changed one bit, I was hoping those would break before the start of our classes so that you would wear contact lenses..."
Kazuo looks at him in disgust, his anthracite eyes letting off a degrading expression, before telling him off, "You do know contact lenses cost a lot more compared to these glasses, right?"
Satoshi remarks while rubbing his chin using his thumb and index finger. "Eeh~? You would look like a completely different person though! Your first year high school debut would be completely awesome — you know, you may even surpass me in looks!"
He sighs and shrugs, utterly defeated to Satoshi's endless observations. "Whatever, all that matters to me are the fact that my glasses are still in one shape."
They begin to walk toward the main school building together as Satoshi then changes the topic of what they did during their vacation.
At first, Kane is completely invested as to what the two of them are sharing, mostly consisting of the animes they had finished, their critiques of the various manga they read, and their favorite waifus.
However, his attention is suddenly taken away as he notices a very familiar figure in the distance; he stops in his tracks as his breathe is taken away.
It's as if his entire world had stopped as soon as his eyes locked on this person; however, this is not your ordinary 'This must be love at first sight,' kind of frozen, this is the 'What are they doing here?' kind of frozen.
"I-Impossible... I thought- no, this can't be right," his mind begins to race with various questions and his eyes widen.
He has stood in place for so long that his two friends begin to look back, as they have walked a considerable amount without him by their side.
His vision focuses on the feminine figure in the distance, the flowing purple hair in the wind, those glasses, that smile as she laughs at a joke one of her companions told her.
A muffled voice calls out his name, but he doesn't hear it, all he can focus right now is that person in the distance... so far, yet so impactful.
"...I thought you left..."
"..ey! Kane-san!"
With a snap of a finger he regains his senses; he is taken aback by the sudden change of environment.
The first thing he hears as he comes back is Satoshi saying, "Earth to Kane-san~! Are you home~?"
Kane looks at both his companions with worry, as it seemingly looks as if he had just made a mistake; Kazuo places a hand on his shoulder as a show of support, before asking in a worrisome tone, "Oi, are you alright?"
He stares him deep in the eyes as if he is still deep in thought, before waving his left hand infront of his face, "D-don't worry about me, I'm fine...!"
"C-crap, I zoned out because I saw... something — no, someone..."
"Honestly, you shouldn't make us worry like that, man," Kazuo lets out a deep sigh before looking at him with a solemn expression while patting his shoulder, "What made you zone out like that, Koyasu-kun?"
Kane looks over Kazuo's shoulder, noticing that the girl with the purple hair has disappeared; his once empty expression is now filled with genuine sorrow.
"I-I think I just saw a ghost."
[1] The word "Hai" (はい) is a versatile Japanese word that can translate into multiple words, such as "Yes", "Okay", "Sure", and vice-versa.
[2] "Goshogawara Academy" is a fictitious school in a non-fictitious city in Japan.